Papers Posed Peril to Ships, Spy Trial Told : Officials Call Documents in Arthur Walker Case a ‘Bible for Sabotage’

Documents allegedly passed to the Soviet Union through the efforts of accused spy Arthur J. Walker are a “Bible for sabotage” that could help attackers sink vital American ships, high-level Navy officials testified in federal court here Wednesday.

Capt. Robert Johnson, chief staff officer for the Navy’s Norfolk-based amphibious squadron, said during the third day of Walker’s espionage trial that one of the documents, a “damage control book,” contained “very good information” that could be used to knock out the Navy’s two most sophisticated communications vessels. Those ships--the Mt. Whitney and the Blue Ridge--double as command posts for the U.S. fleets patrolling the Atlantic and western Pacific, he explained.

Clues for the Soviets

Johnson said that the so-called “DC book,” which outlines procedures for dealing with potential damage to ships in both peacetime and war, not only contained data on the fuel capacity and steaming range of the vessels, but also could provide clues to the Soviets as to the most effective weapons to use against the ships and “how many weapons you need to sink them.”

Another government witness, Capt. Edward D. Sheafer, senior intelligence officer for the Atlantic Command, said that the book also highlighted the structural and mechanical weak points where the ships are most vulnerable to attack. “The book is really a Bible for sabotage,” contended Sheafer, who described himself as an expert on the Soviet Navy.

Faces Life Sentence

Arthur Walker, 50, faces a possible life sentence if convicted on charges of stealing government secrets from a Norfolk area defense contractor for whom he worked and passing the material to his brother, accused spymaster John A. Walker.

The government claims that John Walker, 47, was the mastermind of a spy ring that not only took in his brother, Arthur, but also John’s 22-year-old son, Michael Lance, a Navy seaman, and a close friend, Jerry A. Whitworth of Davis, Calif. John and Michael Walker as well as Whitworth are scheduled to go on trial later this year.

Although he confessed to the FBI and to a federal grand jury that John Walker gave him $12,000 in exchange for Navy documents, Arthur Walker pleaded not guilty in court to the spying charges.

Also testifying Wednesday were FBI agents who detailed the cloak-and-dagger operation that led to the May 20 arrest of John Walker and broke open the family spy scandal. The FBI picked up Walker at a Rockville, Md., motel after he allegedly had left a shopping bag filled with 129 secret Navy documents at a secluded drop site in suburban Washington.

One agent, Francis McKenzie Jr., said he was part of a large FBI team that tailed Walker’s blue and silver 1985 van on May 19 from the Norfolk area to Montgomery County, Md. McKenzie said that Walker appeared to be trying to spot any surveillance by frequently stopping, weaving or slowing his van.

Agents Camouflaged

Bruce K. Brahe, another agent, said that he and two other FBI agents in camouflage were sent at night to comb a wooded area where Walker was believed to have stopped briefly shortly before. He said that a shopping bag placed at the base of a telephone pole caught his attention because, unlike most litter, it was not soggy or insect-ridden.

Inside, he said, were some empty plastic containers of alcohol, empty diet cola bottles, used cotton swabs and a container of hand lotion. At the bottom of the bag was another container wrapped carefully in white plastic, he said.

After handing the bag to a fourth agent, Brahe said, he and the others hid 10 feet from the pole and waited. Over the next two hours, Brahe said that Walker drove by three times, twice getting out of the van to inspect the pole in an apparent effort to ascertain whether the bag had been retrieved. Brahe said that he could not see Walker’s face because it was dark, but he recognized the van and its license plate as belonging to Walker.